The Democrat from New Jersey served in the Army Signal Corps during the war. He spent nearly three decades in the Senate and was its oldest member when he died Monday at 89, after suffering complications from viral pneumonia.

New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, a registered Republican, will hold the office until a special election takes place in October and Christie said Chiesa will not run for the seat. He will take office on Monday.

The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act was negotiated by four Democrats and four Republicans and was formally filed on the Senate floor around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg ripped the U.S. Senate for failing to pass a bipartisan effort to expand background checks. The measure was defeated on Wednesday, failing to garner the 60 votes necessary to block a Republican-led filibuster.

President Barack Obama was not heard this week for his weekly radio address; he instead turned it over to the mother of one of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims, who advocated for a tighter gun restrictions.

Sen. Chris Murphy said when he was elected into office in Nov. he never imagined such a terrible tragedy taking place and dictating policy like the massacre in Newtown has. He said the fact that 26 lives were taken in five minutes at Sandy Hook Elementary School cannot be ignored and demand action.